Catchy subtitle, isn’t it? Unfortunately, the book doesn’t quite live up to two-thirds of it. It’s a great picture of the life Ruth Krauss (noted children’s book author) and Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon, Barnaby) had together, but the FBI bit turns out to be some files due to the couple’s politics, and the last part isn’t explained fully enough for someone not already familiar with the field. However, as the first biography of either of them, it’s […]

You’ve likely seen at least some mention of the idiotic idea of the fake geek girl, since responses have been going on around the internet since the summer. Although I thought this was merely fanboy paranoia, I just found a classic example of the type. Let me back up. I’m still unpacking the various boxes of books arising from our move in August. (When you have over a dozen bookcases and need more to hold all the volumes, it’s not […]

I’ve been a fan of Rachel Hartman’s work for 15 years now. Many readers won’t remember or haven’t heard of her comic work, but in the late 1990s, she created an amazing series of minicomics called Amy Unbounded about a young woman growing up in a medieval society. (Several issues were collected as Belondweg Blossoming.) Hartman created her own historical fantasy world, and it was astounding, full of details like what the musical instruments looked like and how the industries […]

written by Galen Goodwin Longstreth; art by Maris Wicks In this wonderful picture book, each page is a complete illustration, with a rhyming caption over top describing how this large family — parents, four kids, large dog — decides to spend a day in the country, hiking in the woods, having a picnic, swimming in the river. It’s a terrific paean to enjoying the outdoors and being part of such a family. The art is amazing, too, with such active […]

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is an odd but rewarding experiment, a “novel in pictures” that tells its story through captioned vintage images, over 600 pieces of memorabilia in all. The book’s trailer pretends to show the construction of the scrapbook. It’s about Frankie Pratt, an 18-year-old New Hampshire village girl in 1920 who wants to be a writer. As she grows up, she attends Vassar, struggles in Greenwich Village, and runs away to Paris to heal a broken heart. […]

Friend of the Blog Barry Lyga (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl) is launching a new young adult novel series with Archvillain, out this month from Scholastic. It’s the story of Kyle, who was setting up to play a prank the night the weird meteor shower gave him superpowers. Now, Kyle’s bored in school, because his new intelligence has put him miles ahead of everyone, and his former status as most popular kid in school has been usurped […]

I stumbled across The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan the other day, and I had a blast reading it. (If you’re a fan of books by James Lileks, you will too.) Wendy McClure found a bunch of Weight Watchers diet recipe cards from the 1970s and has republished the pictures, complete with snarky commentary, especially when it comes to the props they surrounded the food with. The book is now out of print, but never fear, you can read the website. […]